Welsh Slate Helps Old Copperworks With a New Beating Heart
Three buildings at redeveloped copperworks feature new Welsh Slate roofs.
A copperworks that was once the largest in the world is enjoying a new lease of life, thanks in part to Welsh Slate.
Some 800m2 of Welsh Slate’s Cwt y Bugail 500mm x 250mm roofing slates feature on three buildings at the heart of Swansea Council’s £5 million regeneration of the Hafod Morfa Copperworks in the city.
The central focus was the creation of a new visitor attraction, being the first phase of the regeneration. This involved the renovation of two existing Grade II listed structures - the Weighbridge/Porter’s Office and Power House - and some adaption to facilitate a new distillery and bonded barrel store for Penderyn Whisky, connected within a restored landscape area by a contemporary new-built Visitors Centre/shop.
The site was the world's largest copperworks in the late 19th/early 20th centuries when the Lower Swansea valley was the planet’s leading centre for copper smelting. Due to its historic nature, exceptional attention to detail was required by specialist contractors M Camilleri & Sons Roofing, main contractor John Weaver (Contractors) and the client to ensure all work was completed both to current British Standards and codes of practice and sympathetically to the listed buildings.
The refurbishment of the four-hipped roof of the Weighbridge and Porter’s Office proved fairly straightforward but the derelict Power House was a different story. This featured large banks of patent glazing, raking verges, parapet walls, a clipped gable end, lead-clad windcatcher terminals, and a historic slated clock tower.
Formerly the site’s canteen, the Power House had been without a roof for more than 30 years, but the meticulous restoration of the building’s masonry, cast iron metal work, new structural timberwork and windows has enabled Penderyn Whisky to sympathetically insert their distillery production equipment.
The historic clock tower was partially completed at ground level for safer and easier working access, supervision and scrutiny, before it was crane-lifted into position on the roof, with minimal final detailing and completion works then required at roof level.
The new-build Visitor Centre featured a modern steel frame and insulated composite structural panels across the 140m2 roof which, as well as the Cwt y Bugail roofing slates, also included extensive PV panels and a statement “whisky glass” glazing element over a walkway.
Due to the nature of the site and the complexity of the design, extensive, continuous and in-depth detail reviews were undertaken by two Camilleri directors with more than 60 years of combined experience. They identified issues for discussion and amendment including missing counter battens and the omission of modern upvc products such as eave carriers and slate vents in favour of more suitable, sympathetic and robust alternative products.
Simon Bailey, senior quantity surveyor at Camilleri’s, said: “The historic nature of the site and importance of the project to the region demanded a suitably experienced and qualified site team, to ensure the absolute best possible end result. Our team therefore consisted of the foreman responsible for our last NFRC award-winning slate project leading a four-man team with over 50 years of experience between them. The site personnel were supported by a five-person management team with a further total of over 150 years of experience between them.”
Instead of ladder access, entry to the working platform was provided via a staircase on the outside of the scaffold. This significantly reduced risk in getting the roofing operatives to the work area and allowed tools to be safely and easily carried to the work area. All areas were protected beneath the rafters by a large ‘birdcage’ scaffold, protecting against falls through the roof.
Manual handling was then reduced to the absolute minimum through the provision of a large telehandler and a crane which provided the roofing team with vertical distribution of materials as close to the workface as possible, across the entire site.
Three of Camilleri’s young operatives, who were undertaking their Roof Slating and Tiling NVQ Level 2 qualifications at the time, worked on the project at various stages.
“The project provided a perfect opportunity for each to display their natural slating abilities with all three able to work with such a high-quality slate in the Cwt y Bugail Welsh slate,” said Simon.